Mel in Movieland | Disney - Pinocchio.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Welcome to my new feature, where I will be coming books and movies! I bet you can guess how I came up in the name, but in case you aren’t; Alice in Wonderland. You can find my inspirations in this post Fairytale news: other content.

I’m currently watching all the Disney movies together with my blogging friends, called ‘Disney Journey’ and that's how this idea was born. This is also partly inspired by Project Disney from Picture us reading - you should check out their artwork in the trading cards!

Background.
The original story was written by the Italian author Carlo Collodi (real name: Carlo Lorenzini) as ‘Le avventure di Pinocchio’ translated to The adventures of Pinocchio – the setting of the story is in Tuscan. The author died in 1890 unaware of the popularity of his tale. His story has been translated to more than 240 languages, making it the most translated non-religious book. It’s interesting to note that in the first version of the story, Pinocchio dies a gruesome death. He is hanged, but at the request of the editor the author added the last chapters where Pinocchio is saved by the fairy who transforms him into a real boy. Disney background.The second movie after the success of Snow White was released in 1940. It had ground-breaking achievements in effects animation. It was the first animated feature to win a competitive Academy Award (Best music & Best Original score; soundtrack When you wish upon a star), but it started as a box office disaster. It actually was supposed to be the third movie, but they had difficulties with Bambi and decided to move Pinocchio ahead.

Basic story according to me.

There is this old guy named Geppetto and he decides to carve a wooden puppet called ‘his son’ Pinocchio, because that’s what you do when you are lonely. He already tried pets, but that didn’t work out. The puppet is brought to life by the blue fairy with the promise he can become a real boy if he proves himself ‘brave, truthful and unselfish.’ Which appears to become a huge fail. He does everything he is told NOT to do, which results in him turning into a donkey. Everything turns out okay and Pinocchio is transformed into a real boy. The end.

Comparison Disney movie to the original tale.In the story we meet ’The fairy with the turquoise hair’ which is changed into the ‘Blue fairy’ in the Disney version. I can see why.

Original.
When Pinocchio is transformed into a living puppet he runs away and is found by the police, who imprison Geppetto because they believe he abused Pinocchio. That evening Pinocchio falls asleep with his feet in the stove and the next day he finds them burned off. When the old guy is released he insist that Pinocchio goes to school, he makes a new pair of feet, he sells his coat for books and the boy repays him by selling the books for a ticket to the theatre. He is captured by the puppet master Mangiafuoco who wants to make firewood out of him, but sends him home with money.

Here comes the part where Pinocchio is hanged, because the Cat and the Fox rob him (in disguise). He is rescued by a falcon, summoned by The Fairy. Pinocchio did bites the Cat’s paw off. Geppetto is building a boat to search for Pinocchio and he is swallowed by The Terrible Dogfish. There also happen other things that are left out of the Disney movie, because it would take too long to tell everything. Find the complete summary of the story here: Pinocchio.

In Disney, Pinocchio is convinced by Honest John the Fox and Gideon the Cat to join Stromboli’s puppet show to become a star. When he wants to go home, Stromboli locks in him a cage and the Blue Fairy appears. This is the first time Pinocchio lies and his nose grows; he swears to be a good boy, so his nose shrinks back and she sets him free, warning this is the last time she will help him. We know The terrible dogfish as the angry whale.

You can see that he was cold, rude, ungrateful and inhuman, but Disney made him more innocent, helpless and naive; someone to sympathies with as he tries to stay on the right path. We also see his guidance in the form of cricket Jiminy, who he actually squashes in the real story. Jiminy was a minor character in the original story that returned as a ghost.

Movie adaptations.-Pinocchio plays a small role in the TV show ‘Once upon a time.’ I can’t say anything about it in case of spoilers.
-We get to see the intelligent Pinocchio in Shrek. He sure has his way with words!
-Guillermo Del Toro had plans for a stop motion version, but I haven’t heard about this for a while. It was put on hold in 2013.
-Tim Burton was supposed to direct a movie, but is possible replaced by Ben Stiller. Robert Downey Jr. might play two roles in this Pinocchio version.

31 comments

I love Pinocchio, but I've only seen the Disney movie and I haven't read the book yet. It was neat to see all the differences between the original tale and the Disney movie. From what you said, I'm glad that Disney changed it because otherwise, the movie would be very grim, which the total opposite of the definition of Disney.

Meeek. I do like this disney movie. But gaaah. I never knew these facts. SHAME ON YOU, MEL. lol, just kidding :D You are awesome. <3 And this post is all kinds of awesome. But sobs. I didn't know these things. In the original almost-version Pinocchio dies? Sounds all kinds of awful :( But then you say below that in the book he is such an awful boy? I do not approve. Then he probably deserved to hang. Hmph. I like the disney version more, lol. Thank you for sharing all of this sweetie. <3

Aaand.. you made me read that wikipedia page with all the details about the book :p And now I'm more depressed, lol. It sounds so awful and long compared to the disney movie :\ Yeah. I don't think I should read this book, hih :)

Man, I haven't seen the Disney Pinocchio movie since for everrrr D: I used to really enjoy it as a child though! And can I just say, I adore the amount of detail and extra information you dig up to do these posts! So much fun ♥ I seriously need to rewatch all the Disney cartoons myself at some point, that would really be fun! Fantastic post Mel ^^ xx

I haven't seen the Disney version in forever, but I remember being scared of the whale and the whole turning into a donkey thing. Like the others, I'm glad that Disney didn't go so grim since I'm not sure I would be able to handle that. Thanks for all the fascinating info...I especially love looking at the old movie posters. :)

What a cute post!! It's been years since I've seen the Disney version of Pinocchio. I love looking at the original stories and how they're adapted in our modern culture. I did a piece on Frozen and Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen...and my article actually reached Disney Studios in Burbank back when the film came out. Great piece and thanks for sharing. :) Ciera @ The Write Things

Oh my gosh, the Voldemort picture, I'm laughing so hard. I believe I saw the Disney Pinocchio movie once when I was younger but wasn't too fond of it because I thought he was kind of creepy LOL. I still don't care for puppets to this day. Childhood trauma? Probably.

Loved Pinocchio in OUAT and Shrek though! I remember being shocked when the twist with him in OUAT came out. The first and second season had such greats twists. Anyways.

Guillermo Del Toro or Tim Burton would have made an awesome Pinocchio movie! The prospects of RDJ having a part in it no matter who directs would be so awesome!

Wow, I didn't know that he was initially hanged o__o it feels like all of the original stories of our beloved fairy tales have such dark endings D: I think my mind has been warped because I always associate "fairy tales" with happy endings! Haha. Pinocchio is one of those favorites of mine when I was a kid! I like it even better than Alice in Wonderland.

I feel like Pinocchio is one of those fairytales that don't get as much attention as others. I haven't actually seen the disney version, eep! I know, I'm bad. Or maybe I have but I don't remember, dude there are a LOT of disney movies.

I really love this post because you talk about pinocchio in pop culture and that interests me!

That Voldemort picture is hilarious! It's amazing sometimes how Disney can mine these old tales and create such wonderful, uplifting, beautiful stories. I think I would have been too depressed by the original Pinocchio to try and reinvent it. :D And wow, there's a Pinocchio vampire slayer book... I guess that kind of would work... Wonderful post Mel!

Oh, this is a great feature! It was very cool to learn about the original tale. They are always much crude than the Disney version, for obvious reasons. I still like what Disney did with it. The moral of the story is much clear, and it makes it a great tale for children. Teaches them to obey their parents, which I think will definitely come in handy when I have kids. There is actually another adaption of the story. It's a 2002 Italian movie, titled Pinocchio, where Roberto Benigni played him. Haven't seen it but it seems pretty good. That actor knows his craft.

Neat, a lot of this is brand new information to me! So many things I never knew... I think I still like the Disney version better, though maybe because I loved it growing up. Looking forward to more posts in this feature!

Um... gonna sound really dumb here, but I always thought Pinocchio was one of the Grimm Brothers' stories, too. Oops! >< It's interesting to know that the original story was created by an Italian man, and it's so cool that it's been so popular. Also, I kind of wish they'd kept the original ending, where he's hanged and the end! Lol, so gruesome.

I loooved Pinocchio in the Shrek shows. He was such a cutie. A smartass, yes, but a cutie, nonetheless! And I would have liked to see this "darker side" of him, too, like in the original story, but I guess Disney had to change some stuff so it wouldn't influence the kids too badly.

Thanks for sharing, Mel! Always so great to see you write up such cool posts like these. :D

I just love this! I feel like I know so much more. :) I learned in one of my Italian classes that it's of Italian origin, which was so cool to learn. It does seem like all fairy tales come from the Grimm Brothers, huh?

Pinocchio in OUAT!! Oh my gosh. I heard they're bringing him back (I'm totally not up to date on the show right now, but...) I'm so excited!

I love this post! I didn't know there was so much to learn from Pinnochio! I for one am glad for the Disney version... The original seems pretty all over the place and the message it would try to send would be really bad. Although now that I think of it, most Disney movies are based on gruesome or 'not happy' stories, so I guess they do this a lot then. Haha.

I love these posts because I adore Disney, but I've never taken the time to find out more about the original stories that a lot of them are based from. It always makes me laugh how many of the original stories were meant to or do end in the characters deaths. I'm pretty sure in The Little Mermaid original tale she dies at the end. No happily ever after. I have to say that I am grateful that Disney give me the happy endings.

HAHAHAH FIRST THING I SEE IS THAT IMAGE ABOUT VOLDEMORT. What a perfect opener! Okay, to the words.

Aw, yay, that you get to watch the movies with blogging friends too :). I didn't know Pinocchio was originally Italian. And gosh, it seems like in so many of the older tales about popular books, the author dies before getting to see how popular his book is. 240 Languages! Wow. Maybe this is stupid/silly of me to admit, but I didn't even realize/know that Pinocchio was a story besides something Disney had made. (PINOCCHIO DIED in the original tale???? woah.).

Interesting. Your background via Disney reminds me of the publisher's weekly article I'd read on accidental bestsellers. Some of the most fascinating, popular stories seem to be the ones that publishers don't recognize immediately as being universal but then end up doing well against expectation.

"because that’s what you do when you are lonely." - - lol. love the humor, Mel :).

Okay, so, uh, is it weird if I admit to never having seen or read Pinocchio before? Reading your summary and comparison makes me think: "wow, so much more complicated than I thought...." So cool! I need to read all of the posts you have like this!

I know maybe I'm weird but I'm not usually ever excited to read the original tales. I love it how you compare them tho. I hope you're disney watching project is lots of fun. I'm sure there will always be tons of changes in the disney versions lol